The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation will make the Friday, July 25, session of its annual Pilgrimage free and open to the public to feature the premiere of the animated film Hello Maggie! and the short documentary featuring Apsáalooke and Japanese American young people talking about their connection to Heart Mountain.
The session begins at 9 a.m., July 25 at the Wynona Thompson Auditorium at Cody High School. It will include a panel discussion featuring animator and illustrator Willie Ito, Tony Tarantini, the director of Hello Maggie!, and Carlo Chiarotti, the composer of the film’s compelling score.
Hello Maggie! tells the story of young Shigeru Yabu, who found a baby magpie bird while he and his family were incarcerated at Heart Mountain. Maggie the magpie provided days of relief and enjoyment for the family and young Shig’s friends. Shig Yabu is now an emeritus member of the Heart Mountain board.
Heart Mountain Voices: Connecting Communities with Digital Stories features the stories of Apsáalooke and Japanese American young people reflecting on what Heart Mountain means to them, either through centuries of history or the wartime incarceration, and how they learned about their shared experiences. It was made possible by a grant from Wyoming Humanities.
This year’s Heart Mountain Pilgrimage runs from Thursday, July 24 through Saturday, July 26 and will include multigenerational family discussions, panels featuring authors of books about the Japanese American incarceration and Heart Mountain and a lecture by former incarceree Sam Mihara. In February, Mihara delivered the 51st Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities.